Computer readable program, playlist preparation device, and wireless audio system

ABSTRACT

[Problem] To reduce user&#39;s workload when preparing a playlist. [Solution] A playlist preparation terminal 2 carries out face recognition processes on the image data of listeners captured for each room from a room A to a room C, and generates listener information including the atmosphere, age group, and a male-to-female ratio of a listener group made up of the listeners captured in the image data. The playlist preparation terminal 2 then prepares a playlist by selecting music data from among music data belonging to the genre information preliminarily associated with the listener information, and multicasts the playlist together with the designation data for the wireless speakers 1-1 to 1-3 from which to output music. As a result, the playlist preparation terminal 2 allows the wireless speakers 1-1 to 1-3 from which to output the music to reproduce the music data according to the playlist and output the music.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a technology for creating a playlist ofmusic to be played back by an audio device.

BACKGROUND ART

In Patent Literature 1, there is disclosed a wireless audio system,which includes a plurality of wireless speakers grouped into a pluralityof groups, and is capable of playing back music data that is differentfor each group. In the wireless audio system, for each group, theplurality of wireless speakers belonging to the group performarbitration to select one wireless speaker from among those wirelessspeakers. Then, the selected wireless speaker serves as a group leaderto receive from a user an operation for the plurality of wirelessspeakers belonging to the same group and transmit a control signal tothose wireless speakers.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

[PTL 1] U.S. Pat. No. 7,987,294 B2

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

With the wireless audio system described in Patent Literature 1, forexample, when a plurality of wireless speakers are installed in aplurality of rooms, and the wireless speakers installed in the same roomare set as belonging to the same group, music data that is different foreach room can be played back.

However, in the technology described in Patent Literature 1, there is noconsideration of what type of music data is to be played back in eachroom. Work of creating a playlist by selecting music data that cansatisfy all listeners in the same room from among an enormous amount ofmusic data stored in a media server or the like is greatly troublesome.A load on a user in charge of such work is heavy.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentionedcircumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to alleviatea user's workload in creating a playlist.

Solution to Problem

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, according to oneembodiment of the present invention, image recognition processing isperformed on picked-up image data on a listener to generate listenerinformation including at least one of a facial expression, an age group,or a gender of the listener contained in the picked-up image data, and aplaylist is created based on music belonging to a genre associated inadvance with the listener information.

For example, one embodiment of the present invention relates to aprogram readable by a computer, for causing the computer to function asa playlist creation device including:

picked-up image data acquisition means for acquiring picked-up imagedata on a listener;

listener information generation means for performing image recognitionprocessing on the picked-up image data acquired by the picked-up imagedata acquisition means to generate listener information including atleast one of a facial expression, an age group, or a gender of thelistener contained in the picked-up image data;

music list acquisition means for acquiring, from a server that storesmusic data, a music list of music data belonging to a genre associatedin advance with the listener information generated by the listenerinformation generation means; and

playlist creation means for creating a playlist based on the music listacquired by the music list acquisition means.

In this case, the picked-up image data acquisition means may beconfigured to pick up an image of the listener through use of a camerafunction of the computer to acquire the picked-up image data on thelistener.

Further, the playlist creation device may further include playlisttransmission means for transmitting the playlist created by the playlistcreation means to a predetermined audio device, for example, a wirelessspeaker having an audio playback function. In this case, thepredetermined audio device downloads music data on music described inthe playlist from a server storing music data to play back the music.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to the present invention, listener information including atleast one of the facial expression, the age group, or the gender of alistener is generated from the picked-up image data on the listener, anda piece of music is selected from among pieces of music belonging to thegenre associated in advance with the listener information to create theplaylist. Thus, a playlist can be generated automatically just bypicking up an image of a listener by a user. Therefore, according to thepresent invention, it is possible to alleviate a user's workload increating a playlist.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a wireless audio systemaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram for illustrating an operation of thewireless audio system illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic functional configuration diagram of a wirelessspeaker 1.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of the wirelessspeaker 1.

FIG. 5 is a schematic functional configuration diagram of a playlistcreation terminal 2.

FIG. 6 is a table for schematically showing an example of contentregistered in a genre information storage unit 25.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of the playlistcreation terminal 2.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Now, an embodiment of the present invention is described referring tothe drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a wireless audio systemaccording to this embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the wireless audio system according to thisembodiment includes a plurality of wireless speakers 1-1 to 1-3(hereinafter sometimes referred to simply as “wireless speaker(s) 1”)each having an ID assigned thereto, a playlist creation terminal 2,which is a portable terminal having a camera function, and a mediaserver 3 and an access point 4, which are connected to a network 5. Itis assumed that the wireless speakers 1-1 to 1-3 are installed in roomsA to C, respectively.

Each of the wireless speakers 1 is connected to the playlist creationterminal 2 and the media server 3 via the access point 4, and acquiresmusic data from the media server 3 and plays back the music data foroutput in accordance with a playlist received from the playlist creationterminal 2.

The playlist creation terminal 2 is also connected to the wirelessspeaker 1 and the media server 3 via the access point 4, and creates, incooperation with the media server 3, a playlist of music to be played toa listener based on picked-up image data on the listener acquired bypicking up an image of the listener through use of the camera function.Then, the playlist creation terminal 2 transmits the created playlist toone of the wireless speakers 1 from which music data is to be playedback for output.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram for illustrating an operation of thewireless audio system illustrated in FIG. 1. In the following, adescription is given of, as an example, an operation performed when auser of the playlist creation terminal 2 causes the playlist creationterminal 2 to create a playlist of music to be played to listeners inthe room A, and causes the wireless speaker 1-1 installed in the room Ato play back for output the music data in accordance with the playlist.

First, the user of the playlist creation terminal 2 confirms the IDassigned to the wireless speaker 1-1 installed in the room A, and inputsthe ID to the playlist creation terminal 2 (Step S100). In response tothis input, the playlist creation terminal 2 sets the ID of the wirelessspeaker 1-1 as a playlist transmission destination ID (Step S101).

Next, when the user of the playlist creation terminal 2 performs anoperation for photographing listeners in the room A as objects (StepS102), the playlist creation terminal 2 uses the camera function tophotograph the listeners in the room A (Step S103). Then, the playlistcreation terminal 2 performs face recognition processing onphotographing data on the listeners in the room A to generate listenerinformation including an atmosphere, an age group, and a gender ratio ofa listener group of the listeners in the room A (Step S104).

Specifically, based on a result of the face recognition processingperformed on the photographing data, a facial expression, an age group,and a gender of each of the listeners in the room A are identified. Thefacial expression of each listener can be classified into variousexpressions such as happy, angry, sad, joyful, bright, dark, relaxed,and nervous, but in this case, a case in which the facial expression ofeach listener is classified into any one of four expressions of happy,angry, sad, and joyful is taken as an example. Then, when apredetermined ratio (e.g., 2/3) or more of the listeners have the samefacial expression (one of happy, angry, sad, and joyful), the facialexpression is determined as the atmosphere of the listener group, andotherwise, it is determined that the atmosphere of the listener groupcannot be identified. Similarly, when a predetermined ratio (e.g., 2/3)or more of the listeners have the same age group, the age group isdetermined as the age group of the listener group, and otherwise, it isdetermined that the age group of the listener group cannot beidentified. Further, when a predetermined ratio (e.g., 2/3) or more ofthe listeners have a male gender, the gender ratio of the listener groupis determined as “mainlymen”, and when a predetermined ratio (e.g., 2/3)or more of the listeners have a female gender, the gender ratio of thelistener group is determined as “mainly women”. Otherwise, the genderratio of the listener group is determined as “mixed”.

Existing technologies described in, for example, JP 2005-148880 A and JP2013-242719 A can be used for the face recognition processing.

Next, the playlist creation terminal 2 determines genre informationregistered in advance in association with the listener informationcreated as described above, as genre information to be described in aplaylist (Step S105). In the playlist creation terminal 2, acorrespondence relationship between listener information and genreinformation including a genre and a period of music is registered. Forexample, when an atmosphere included in listener information is “happy”or “joyful”, genre information associated with the listener informationincludes a genre corresponding to a gender ratio included in thelistener information (a genre of “rock” when the gender ratio is “mainlymen”, a genre of “pop” when the gender ratio is “mainly women”, and agenre of “mood music” when the gender ratio is “mixed”). Further, whenthe atmosphere included in the listener information is “angry” or “sad”,genre information associated with the listener information includes agenre of “classical” irrespective of the gender ratio included in thelistener information. Further, the genre information including the genreof anyone of “pop” and “rock” includes a period when a listener of anage group included in the corresponding listener information was in hisor her teens (e.g., 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, or 2000s), and the genreinformation including the genre of any one of “classical” and “moodmusic” includes a period of “not specified” irrespective of the agegroup included in the corresponding listener information.

Next, the playlist creation terminal 2 transmits a music list requestinvolving designation of the genre information (genre and period)determined as described above to the media server 3 via the access point4 and the network 5 (Step S106).

When receiving the music list request from the playlist creationterminal 2, the media server 3 retrieves, from among pieces of musicdata stored in advance in the media server 3 in association with thegenre information, pieces of music data associated with the genreinformation designated in the music list request to create a music listof the retrieved pieces of music data (Step S107). Then, the mediaserver 3 transmits the created music list to the playlist creationterminal 2 (Step S108).

When receiving the music list from the media server 3, the playlistcreation terminal 2 creates a playlist based on the received music list(Step S109). For example, when the number of pieces of music describedin the music list is smaller than a predetermined value, the playlistcreation terminal 2 sets this music list as the playlist. Meanwhile,when the number of pieces of music described in the music list is equalto or larger than the predetermined value, the playlist creationterminal 2 randomly selects a predetermined number of pieces of musicfrom the music list to create the playlist. Next, the playlist creationterminal 2 assigns to the created playlist the ID of the wirelessspeaker 1-1 of the room A, which is set as the playlist transmissiondestination ID, and multicasts the resultant playlist to each of thewireless speakers 1-1 to 1-3 via the access point 4 (Step S110).

In this case, each of the wireless speakers other than the wirelessspeaker 1-1 of the room A, namely, the wireless speakers 1-2 and 1-3,discards the playlist multicast from the playlist creation terminal 2because the ID is not an ID of the each of the wireless speakers 1-2 and1-3 (Step S111 and Step S112). Meanwhile, the wireless speaker 1-1 ofthe room A accepts the playlist multicast from the playlist creationterminal 2 because the ID is the ID of the wireless speaker 1-1 (StepS113).

Next, the wireless speaker 1-1 of the room A transmits a music datarequest including the playlist received from the playlist creationterminal 2 to the media server 3 via the access point 4 and the network5 (Step S114).

In response to this request, the media server 3 identifies, from amongthe pieces of music data stored in the media server 3, pieces of musicdata that are described in the playlist designated in the music datarequest received from the wireless speaker 1-1 of the room A, andtransmits those pieces of music data to the wireless speaker 1-1 of theroom A (Step S115).

In response to this, the wireless speaker 1-1 of the room A plays backfor output the pieces of music data received from the media server 3 inan order described in the playlist (Step S116).

Next, details of the wireless speaker 1 and the playlist creationterminal 2 of the wireless audio system according to this embodiment aredescribed. An existing media server and access point can be used as themedia server 3 and the access point 4, and hence detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted.

First, the wireless speaker 1 is described.

FIG. 3 is a schematic functional configuration diagram of the wirelessspeaker 1. A functional configuration of the wireless speaker 1illustrated in FIG. 3 is, for example, implemented in the followingmanner: in a computer including a CPU, a memory, an auxiliary storagedevice, for example, a flash memory, a wireless communication device,for example, a wireless LAN adapter, and a speaker, the CPU loads apredetermined program onto the memory from the auxiliary storage deviceto execute the program.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the wireless speaker 1 includes a wirelessnetwork interface unit 10, a playlist reception unit 11, a playliststorage unit 12, a music data acquisition unit 13, a music data storageunit 14, a music data playback unit 15, and a speaker unit 16.

The wireless network interface unit 10 is an interface for, for example,communicating to/from the playlist creation terminal 2 and communicatingto/from the media server 3 connected to the network 5 via the accesspoint 4.

The playlist reception unit 11 accepts a playlist assigned with the IDof the own wireless speaker 1 from the playlist creation terminal 2 viathe wireless network interface unit 10.

The playlist storage unit 12 stores the playlist received by theplaylist reception unit 11 from the playlist creation terminal 2.

The music data acquisition unit 13 transmits, to the media server 3 viathe wireless network interface unit 10, a music data request includingthe playlist stored in the playlist storage unit 12, to thereby acquirefrom the media server 3 music data on music described in the playlist.

The music data storage unit 14 stores the music data acquired by themusic data acquisition unit 13 from the media server 3.

The music data playback unit 15 plays back the music data stored in themusic data storage unit 14 in accordance with the playlist stored in theplaylist storage unit 12 to output the music data from the speaker unit16.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of the wirelessspeaker 1. This flow is started when the wireless network interface unit10 receives a playlist multicast from the playlist creation terminal 2.

First, the wireless network interface unit 10 passes the receivedplaylist to the playlist reception unit 11. In response to this, theplaylist reception unit 11 determines whether or not a playlisttransmission destination ID assigned to the playlist received from thewireless network interface unit 10 is an ID of the own wireless speaker1 (Step S201). Then, when the playlist transmission destination ID isnot the ID of the own wireless speaker 1 (NO in Step S201), the playlistreception unit 11 discards this playlist (Step S202), and ends theprocessing.

Meanwhile, when the playlist transmission destination ID is the ID ofthe own wireless speaker 1 (YES in Step S201), the playlist receptionunit 11 accepts this playlist and stores the playlist in the playliststorage unit 12 (Step S203).

When a new playlist is stored in the playlist storage unit 12, the musicdata acquisition unit 13 transmits a music data request including thisplaylist to the media server 3 via the wireless network interface unit10 (Step S204). Then, when receiving music data from the media server 3,the music data acquisition unit 13 stores the received music data intothe music data storage unit 14 (Step S205).

When new music data is stored into the music data storage unit 14, themusic data playback unit 15 plays back the music data stored in themusic data storage unit 14 in accordance with the playlist stored in theplaylist storage unit 12 to output the music data from the speaker unit16 (Step S206).

Next, the playlist creation terminal 2 is described.

FIG. 5 is a schematic functional configuration diagram of the playlistcreation terminal 2. The functional configuration of the playlistcreation terminal 2 illustrated in FIG. 5 is, for example, implementedin the following manner: in a portable computer, for example, asmartphone or a tablet PC, which includes a CPU, a memory, an auxiliarystorage device, for example, a flash memory, a touch panel, a display,an input/output device, for example, a pointing device, a wirelesscommunication device, for example, a wireless LAN adapter, and a camera,the CPU loads a predetermined program onto the memory from the auxiliarystorage device to execute the program.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the playlist creation terminal 2 includes awireless network interface unit 20, a graphical user interface unit 21,a playlist transmission destination setting unit 22, a picked-up imagedata acquisition unit 23, a listener information generation unit 24, agenre information storage unit 25, a music list acquisition unit 26, aplaylist creation unit 27, and a playlist transmission unit 28.

The wireless network interface unit 20 is an interface for, for example,communicating to/from the wireless speaker 1 via the access point 4 andcommunicating to/from the media server 3 connected to the network 5.

The graphical user interface unit 21 is an interface for, for example,displaying information and receiving various operations from the user.

The playlist transmission destination setting unit 22 sets, for theplaylist transmission unit 28, the ID of the wireless speaker 1 receivedas the playlist transmission destination ID from the user via thegraphical user interface unit 21.

The picked-up image data acquisition unit 23 uses the camera function ofthe playlist creation terminal 2 in accordance with a photographingoperation received from the user via the graphical user interface unit21 to photograph a listener, to thereby acquire photographing data onthe listener.

The listener information generation unit 24 performs face recognitionprocessing on picked-up image data on listeners acquired by thepicked-up image data acquisition unit 23, to thereby generate listenerinformation including an atmosphere (one of happy, angry, sad, andjoyful), an age group, and a gender ratio of a listener group of thelisteners contained in the picked-up image data. Specifically, a facialexpression (one of happy, angry, sad, and joyful), an age group, and agender of each of the listeners contained in the picked-up image dataare identified based on the face recognition processing performed on thepicked-up image data. Then, when a predetermined ratio (e.g., 2/3) ormore of the listeners have the same facial expression, the facialexpression is determined as the atmosphere of the listener group, andotherwise, it is determined that the atmosphere of the listener groupcannot be identified. Similarly, when a predetermined ratio (e.g., 2/3)or more of the listeners have the same age group, the age group isdetermined as the age group of the listener group, and otherwise, it isdetermined that the age group of the listener group cannot beidentified. Further, when a predetermined ratio (e.g., 2/3) or more ofthe listeners have a male gender, the gender ratio of the listener groupis determined as “mainlymen”, and when a predetermined ratio (e.g., 2/3)or more of the listeners have a female gender, the gender ratio of thelistener group is determined as “mainly women”. Otherwise, the genderratio of the listener group is determined as “mixed”.

As described above, existing technologies described in, for example, JP2005-148880 A and JP 2013-242719 A can be used for the face recognitionprocessing.

In the genre information storage unit 25, genre information of music isregistered in association with listener information. FIG. 6 is a tablefor schematically showing an example of content registered in the genreinformation storage unit 25. As shown in FIG. 6, in the genreinformation storage unit 25, records 250 of the genre information ofmusic are stored. Each of the records 250 includes a field 251 in whichlistener information is registered and a field 252 in which genreinformation of music is registered. Further, the field 251 includes asubfield 253 in which an atmosphere (one of happy, angry, sad, andjoyful) is registered, a subfield 254 in which an age group isregistered, and a subfield 255 in which a gender ratio is registered.The field 252 includes a subfield 256 in which a genre of music isregistered and a subfield 257 in which a period of music is registered.In FIG. 6, the symbol “*” indicates a wildcard corresponding to anyinformation.

In FIG. 6, for example, in the subfields 256 and 257 of the field 252 ofthe record 250 in which an atmosphere of “happy” or “joyful”, an agegroup of “unidentifiable”, and a gender ratio of “unidentifiable” areregistered in the subfields 253 to 255 of the field 251, respectively,the genre of “pop” or “rock” and the period of “not specified” areregistered. Further, for example, in the subfields 256 and 257 of thefield 252 of the record 250 in which the atmosphere of “happy” or“joyful”, an age group of “middle age”, and a gender ratio of “mainlymen” are registered in the subfields 253 to 255 of the field 251,respectively, the genre of “rock” and a period of “1970s” areregistered. Further, for example, in the subfields 256 and 257 of thefield 252 of the record 250 in which the atmosphere of “happy” or“joyful”, an age group of “young age”, and a gender ratio of “mainlywomen” are registered in the subfields 253 to 255 of the field 251,respectively, the genre of “pop” and a period of “1990s” are registered.Further, for example, in the subfields 256 and 257 of the field 252 ofthe record 250 in which the atmosphere of “happy” or “joyful”, an agegroup of “*”, and a gender ratio of “mixed” are registered in thesubfields 253 to 255 of the field 251, respectively, the genre of “moodmusic” and the period of “not specified” are registered. Further, forexample, in the subfields 256 and 257 of the field 252 of the record 250in which an atmosphere of “angry” or “sad”, the age group of “*”, and agender ratio of “*” are registered in the subfields 253 to 255 of thefield 251, respectively, the genre of “classical” and the period of “notspecified” are registered.

The music list acquisition unit 26 uses the listener information(atmosphere, age group, and gender ratio) generated by the listenerinformation generation unit 24 as a search key to retrieve from thegenre information storage unit 25 one of the records 250 having genreinformation of music. Then, the music list acquisition unit 26 generatesa music list request involving designation of the genre information(genre and period) registered in the field 252 of the retrieved record250, and transmits the music list request to the media server 3 via thewireless network interface unit 20 to acquire a music list from themedia server 3.

The playlist creation unit 27 creates a playlist based on the music listacquired by the music list acquisition unit 26 from the media server 3.For example, when the number of pieces of music described in the musiclist is smaller than a predetermined value, the playlist creationterminal 2 sets this music list as the playlist. Meanwhile, when thenumber of pieces of music described in the music list is equal to orlarger than the predetermined value, the playlist creation terminal 2randomly selects a predetermined number of pieces of music from themusic list to create the playlist.

The playlist transmission unit 28 assigns to the playlist created by theplaylist creation unit 27 the playlist transmission destination ID setby the playlist transmission destination setting unit 22, and multicaststhe resultant playlist from the wireless network interface unit 20.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of the playlistcreation terminal 2. This flow is started when the graphical userinterface unit 21 receives an instruction to create a playlist from theuser.

First, the playlist transmission destination setting unit 22 waits untilthe ID of any one of the wireless speakers 1 as the playlisttransmission destination ID is received from the user via the graphicaluser interface unit 21 (Step S301). Then, when the playlist transmissiondestination ID is received (YES in Step S301), the playlist transmissiondestination setting unit 22 sets this playlist transmission destinationID for the playlist transmission unit 28 (Step S302).

Next, the picked-up image data acquisition unit 23 waits until aphotographing operation is received from the user via the graphical userinterface unit 21 (Step S303). Then, when the photographing operation isreceived (YES in Step S303), the picked-up image data acquisition unit23 uses the camera function of the playlist creation terminal 2 tophotograph listeners, to thereby acquire photographing data on thelisteners (Step S304).

Next, the listener information generation unit 24 performs facerecognition processing on the picked-up image data on the listenersacquired by the picked-up image data acquisition unit 23, to therebygenerate listener information including an atmosphere, an age group, anda gender ratio of a listener group of the listeners contained in thepicked-up image data (Step S305).

Subsequently, the music list acquisition unit 26 uses the listenerinformation (atmosphere, age group, and gender ratio) generated by thelistener information generation unit 24 as a search key to retrieve oneof the records 250 from the genre information storage unit 25. Then, themusic list acquisition unit 26 determines genre information (genre andperiod) registered in the field 252 of the retrieved record 250 as thegenre information of music to be described in the playlist (Step S306).Then, the music list acquisition unit 26 generates a music list requestinvolving designation of the determined genre information, and transmitsthis music list request to the media server 3 via the wireless networkinterface unit 20 to acquire a music list from the media server 3 (StepS307).

Next, the playlist creation unit 27 creates the playlist based on themusic list acquired by the music list acquisition unit 26 (Step S308).For example, when the number of pieces of music described the music listis smaller than a predetermined value, the playlist creation terminal 2sets this music list as the playlist. Meanwhile, when the number ofpieces of music described in the music list is equal to or larger thanthe predetermined value, the playlist creation terminal 2 randomlyselects a predetermined number of pieces of music from the music list tocreate the playlist.

Subsequently, the playlist transmission unit 28 assigns to the playlistcreated by the playlist creation unit 27 the playlist transmissiondestination ID set by the playlist transmission destination setting unit22, and multicasts the resultant playlist from the wireless networkinterface unit 20 (Step S309).

In the above, one embodiment of the present invention has beendescribed.

In this embodiment, the playlist creation terminal 2 creates thelistener information based on the picked-up image data on a listener,and selects pieces of music data from among pieces of music databelonging to the genre information associated in advance with thislistener information to create a playlist. Thus, the playlist can becreated automatically just by picking up the image of the listener bythe user. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible toalleviate a user's workload in creating a playlist.

Further, the playlist creation terminal 2 performs face recognitionprocessing on the picked-up image data to generate the listenerinformation including the atmosphere, the age group, and the genderratio of a listener group of listeners contained in the picked-up imagedata. Thus, even when a plurality of listeners are contained in thepicked-up image data, pieces of music data satisfying a larger number oflisteners can be selected to create the playlist, and hence it ispossible to further alleviate a user's workload in creating a playlist.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentionedembodiment, and various changes may be made thereto within the scope ofthe gist of the invention.

For example, in the embodiment described above, the listener informationincludes the atmosphere, the age group, and the gender ratio, but thelistener information is only required to include at least one of theatmosphere, the age group, or the gender ratio.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the playlist creationterminal 2 multicasts the playlist to each of the wireless speakers 1-1to 1-3, but may be configured to unicast the playlist to each wirelessspeaker, for example, instead of multicasting the playlist.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the playlist creationterminal 2 creates the playlist based on the picked-up image data on alistener, but may be configured to create the playlist in considerationof, in addition to the picked-up image data, for example, a temporalfactor such as daytime or nighttime, and/or a seasonal factor such asspring, summer, autumn, winter, Christmas, or New Year's holiday.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the playlist creationterminal 2 receives the ID of the wireless speaker 1 to which theplaylist is to be transmitted from the user via the graphical userinterface unit 21, but the present invention is not limited thereto. TheID of the wireless speaker 1 may be acquired by, for example, attachinga QR code (trademark) representing the ID of the own wireless speaker 1to the wireless speaker 1, and photographing the QR code with the cameraof the playlist creation terminal 2. As another example, the playlistcreation terminal 2 and the wireless speaker 1 may be provided with ashort-range wireless communication function, for example, RFID, so as toallow the wireless speaker 1 to use the short-range wirelesscommunication to transmit the ID of the own wireless speaker 1 to theplaylist creation terminal 2.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the listener information isgenerated by performing face recognition processing on the picked-upimage data on a listener, but the listener information may be generatedby performing image recognition processing other than face recognitionprocessing. For example, the atmosphere of a listener group may beidentified by performing appearance recognition processing on thepicked-up image data on listeners to extract a feature (e.g., casual,formal, or color) of clothes of each listener, and determining which ofclassifications defined in advance the extracted feature belongs to.With this configuration, for example, when none of the facialexpressions of the listeners can be identified, the atmosphere of thelistener group may be identified based on the feature of clothes of thelisteners in place of the facial expressions of the listeners.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the playlist creationterminal 2 generates listener information and creates a playlist, butthe media server 3 may generate listener information and create aplaylist.

Specifically, the listener information generation unit 24, the genreinformation storage unit 25, the music list acquisition unit 26, and theplaylist creation unit 27 are removed from the playlist creationterminal 2, and those processing units are added to the media server 3.Further, the playlist creation terminal 2 transmits the picked-up imagedata on a listener acquired by the picked-up image data acquisition unit23 from the wireless network interface unit 20 to the media server 3. Inthe media server 3, the listener information generation unit 24 performsface recognition processing on the picked-up image data received fromthe playlist creation terminal 2 to generate listener information, andthe music list acquisition unit 26 creates a music list of music databelonging to genre information that is stored in the genre informationstorage unit 25 in association with the listener information generatedby the listener information generation unit 24. Then, the playlistcreation unit 27 creates a playlist from the music list created by themusic list acquisition unit 26, and the playlist is transmitted to theplaylist creation terminal 2. In response to this, in the playlistcreation terminal 2, the playlist transmission unit 28 assigns aplaylist transmission destination ID to the playlist, and the playlistis multicast from the wireless network interface unit 20.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the case in which theplaylist creation terminal 2 is connected to the network 5 via awireless network is taken as an example for description, but theplaylist creation terminal 2 may be directly connected to the network 5without the intermediation of a wireless network.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the media server 3 isconnected to the network 5, but the media server 3 may be connected to awireless network. Further, the media server 3 may be built into theplaylist creation terminal 2, or may be built into any one of thewireless speakers 1.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the playlist creationterminal 2 transmits the playlist to the wireless speaker 1, but thepresent invention is not limited thereto. The playlist is only requiredto be transmitted to a predetermined audio device having a function ofplaying back music data in accordance with the playlist.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

1, 1-1 to 1-3: wireless speaker, 2: playlist creation terminal, 3: mediaserver, 4: access point, 5: network, 10: wireless network interfaceunit, 11: playlist reception unit, 12: playlist storage unit, 13: musicdata acquisition unit, 14: music data storage unit, 15: music dataplayback unit, 16: speaker unit, 20: wireless network interface unit,21: graphical user interface unit, 22: playlist transmission destinationsetting unit, 23: picked-up image data acquisition unit, 24: listenerinformation generation unit, 25: genre information storage unit, 26:music list acquisition unit 27: playlist creation unit, 28: playlisttransmission unit

1. A program readable by a computer, for causing the computer tofunction as a playlist creation device comprising: picked-up image dataacquisition means for acquiring picked-up image data on a listener;listener information generation means for performing image recognitionprocessing on the picked-up image data acquired by the picked-up imagedata acquisition means to generate listener information including atleast one of a facial expression, an age group, or a gender of thelistener contained in the picked-up image data; music list acquisitionmeans for acquiring, from a server that stores music data, a music listof music data belonging to a genre associated in advance with thelistener information generated by the listener information generationmeans; and playlist creation means for creating a playlist based on themusic list acquired by the music list acquisition means.
 2. A programreadable by a computer according to claim 1, wherein, when the picked-upimage data acquired by the picked-up image data acquisition meanscontains a plurality of listeners, the listener information generationmeans generates, for a listener group including the plurality oflisteners, listener information including at least one of an atmospheredetermined based on facial expressions of the plurality of listeners, anage group determined based on age groups of the plurality of listeners,or a gender ratio determined based on genders of the plurality oflisteners.
 3. A program readable by a computer according to claim 1,wherein the picked-up image data acquisition means is configured to pickup an image of the listener through use of a camera function of thecomputer to acquire the picked-up image data on the listener.
 4. Aprogram readable by a computer according to claim 1, wherein theplaylist creation device further comprises playlist transmission meansfor transmitting the playlist created by the playlist creation means toa predetermined audio device.
 5. A playlist creation device, which isconfigured to create a playlist of music, the playlist creation devicecomprising: picked-up image data acquisition means for acquiringpicked-up image data on a listener; listener information generationmeans for performing image recognition processing on the picked-up imagedata acquired by the picked-up image data acquisition means to generatelistener information including at least one of a facial expression, anage group, or a gender of the listener contained in the picked-up imagedata; music list acquisition means for acquiring, from a server thatstores music data, a music list of music data belonging to a genreassociated in advance with the listener information generated by thelistener information generation means; and playlist creation means forcreating a playlist based on the music list acquired by the music listacquisition means.
 6. A playlist creation device according to claim 5,further comprising playlist transmission means for transmitting theplaylist created by the playlist creation means to a predetermined audiodevice.
 7. A wireless audio system, comprising: the playlist creationdevice of claim 6; and a wireless speaker having an audio playbackfunction, wherein the playlist transmission means of the playlistcreation device is configured to wirelessly transmit a playlist createdby the playlist creation means to the wireless speaker, and wherein thewireless speaker includes: playlist reception means for receiving theplaylist transmitted wirelessly from the playlist creation device; musicdata acquisition means for acquiring, from a server that stores themusic data, music data on music described in the playlist received bythe playlist reception means; and playback-and-output means for playingback for output the music data acquired by the music data acquisitionmeans in accordance with the playlist received by the playlist receptionmeans.
 8. A wireless audio system according to claim 7, wherein thewireless speaker includes a plurality of wireless speakers each havingan identification number assigned thereto, wherein the playlisttransmission means of the playlist creation device is configured toassign, to the playlist created by the playlist creation means,identification information of one of the plurality of wireless speakersthat is requested to play back music, and to wirelessly transmit theplaylist to the plurality of wireless speakers, and wherein the playlistreception means of each of the plurality of wireless speakers isconfigured to accept the playlist transmitted wirelessly from theplaylist creation device when the identification information assigned tothe playlist is identification information of the each of the pluralityof wireless speakers.